What a disappointment this free agency period was for both the Flyers and Sixers. Sure, neither team mortgaged the future to sign the soup du jour and set the franchise back decades, the way Paul Holmgren would’ve done or the way we feared Bryan Colangelo would do. But still, specifically with regards to the Sixers, there were ostensibly plenty of opportunities to round out the roster with veteran guards and mid-level free agents able to stabilize the tank and put Sixers prospects into a competitive situation almost from day one. But nope, we got Jerryd Bayless – a decent-shooting guard who won’t take the ball out of Ben Simmons’ hands – and that Y which is going to bother me for a long tyme. We got Sergio Rodriguez, a point guard from Spain who had previously bounced around the league a bunch. He, like Bayless, won’t take much away from Ben Simmons. Cool? There’s nothing to hate here, but landing someone like Allen Crabbe or Seth Curry, or even Harrison Barnes, would’ve done a lot more to put a respectable product on the floor next season without breaking the bank or usurping the standing of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.

The theory going around, first posited by Spike Eskin, is this:

https://twitter.com/SpikeEskin/status/749198379071053824

Hard to argue there. All we’ve heard about is the MAN OF ACTION, how Colangelo was going to wheel and deal and assemble a winner… and all he’s done so far is make the sort of minor moves to keep the tank alive, and even drafted two Hinkie-esque European players late in the first round.

There’s nothing to hate about what Colangelo’s done so far, but it’s hard not to be just a little disappointed that there was one even quasi-notable signing.

Let’s hit it!


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The roundup:

Draymond Green on how the Warriors landed Kevin Durant is outstanding– well worth a read today:

“Initially, I was in bed and then Charlie [Bell]—Kevin’s business manager and best friend—texted me. When he texted me, I jumped up. But he didn’t say, ‘Yo, we’re coming there’ or ‘KD is coming.’ He just said, ‘Let’s get it.’ It was something like that, so I’m thinking, ‘Okay, he’s joking with me.’ And then it hit the waves and Twitter and I saw it come through on Bleacher Report app. Then, I jumped out of bed and paced back and forth. I’m in a hotel room in Michigan, just pacing for 15 to 20 minutes.”

 

Meanwhile, idiots in Oklahoma City who can’t appreciate that Kevin Durant unnecessarily feels bad about leaving that fame-crushing void:

https://twitter.com/WORLDSTAR/status/750143263248703488

 

NBC 10 ruined America. What a disgrace their “broadcasting” of a Philly mainstay was. For years, the Wawa Welcome America Parade has been in the able hands of 6 ABC, stewards of Parkway institutions such as… the aforementioned parade and the Boscovs 6 ABC Thanksgiving Day Parade. Every year, you just know some combination of Adam Joseph, Cecily Tynan, Karen Rogers, Rick Williams and a slew of other inoffensive and safe TV personalities will bring us our second-rate parades in a familiar manner. But no, NBC 10 had to go and obtain the rights to Welcome America. They’ve spent the last week promoting it the way they promote a mild rain storm, which is to say excessively. And yet, from 8 – 10 p.m. last night, prime Welcoming America time, THEY SENT US TO FUCKING NEW YORK FOR TYPICAL MACYS BULLSHIT. I’ll let my Tweets do the talking:

Little secret: My wife and I have come to really like NBC 10’s news broadcast. It’s been our go-to throughout the last year or so. Why? I don’t know. She likes the Today Show (it’s way better than Good Morning America), Fallon is often on at night so logically we wake with NBC on, Action News is too predictable, and CBS 3 has replaced like 70% of its on-air-capable staff with a hodgepodge of young faces, out-of-position anchors (Jim Donovan hosting the morning show– are you kidding me?), and Ukee Washington fucking tell me to “sleep well, family” before signing off at 11:30. Ew. That’s literally part of the reason why I don’t watch much Colbert– because I’m too scared that I might accidentally tune in early and hear Ukee Washington telling me to sleep well.

So I actually had high expectations for NBC 10’s handling of Welcome America. But nope. Dey gone fucked it. What sort of money-grubbing, harebrained, misguided thinking led to the decision to dump out of Philly in prime time for network coverage from New York? This, this is how you handle a Philly institution? I shudder to think what would happen if they ever landed Thanksgiving. Would we even get to see Santa’s fat white ass climb the Art Museum steps?

https://twitter.com/londoslastdance/status/750135328858578944

Yeah, maybe Philly’s holiday parades and assorted concert gatherings are second-rate bullshit, but they’re OUR SECOND RATE BULLSHIT. And NBC 10 ruined one of them. SOMEONE GET ME GARDNER! Asking for my Dad.

 

Speaking of second-rate Philly things, it is truly remarkable that the city’s transportation provider just had to take 120 RAIL CARS out of service because of a dangerous fault. Why can’t we be great? The city has the collective loser’s mentality that the entire country of England has. This would happen in Philly. Oh yeah no big deal, we’re just taking 30% of our transpiration network out of commission for a month or two. Good luck!

 

BREAKFAST ON BROAD NEWS: BOB producer Tom Louden, who had previously produced Good Day Philly, is leaving Comcast and heading back to FOX, where he’ll be a senior executive producer overseeing all original programming, including Good Day and the upcoming Q Show, which starts in September and will have a live studio audience. What does this mean for BOB? Louden’s last day was Friday and I’m hearing a search is on for a new producer. One would think the biggest problem the show needs to overcome is the fact that it’s on TCN, and not CSN.

 

https://twitter.com/CauldronICYMI/status/750114122113511424

Ben Simmons looked good in his first Summer League game last night. Without going too overboard since it was only one game – he left early with cramps – Simmons, who finished with 10 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, showed remarkable poise with the ball and a quick, accurate passing ability. Ignoring the actual passes, just his ability to read a situation and deliver a confident look showed that he’s a premium talent. His ball skills, especially with his size, resembled LeBron-light. He’ll have the night off tonight.

 

Amazon has a robot that can stock shelves. They’re slowly taking over the world.

 

https://twitter.com/wyliebyles/status/750130143176237057

This never would’ve happened with Noah. Fortunately (or not), freedom didn’t get to ring for long:

 

Sam Hinkie follows 0 people on Twitter:

 

Brett was happy:

 

Boston is adorable:

https://twitter.com/FINK_BOMB/status/750181618711748609

 

Major League Baseball played a game at Fort Bragg over the weekend, which was awesome. The game was open to MLB employees, DOD personnel, and their guests. Professional ball-hawk and jackass Zack Hample, who was advertising on TINDER that he’d pay $1,000 for a ticket to the game, somehow ended up there. People pointed out that in a game with only a couple thousand seats available, he essentially stole a seat that could have gone to a soldier or veteran. Hample, as he is known to do, cried about it:

 

Mike Trout: Adorable.

 

Hey Dani Alves, this is cool and all but it just seems wasteful:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHaAhjtjWoj/

 

What’s the over/under on deaths at the Olympics? 10.5?

 

Don’t look know but Peter Bourjos has been playing out of his mind.

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